The invention is in the field of optical wavelength converters.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,573 to Glance, there is illustrated and described a tunable optical wavelength converter for generating a selectable wavelength for an optical signal. The tunable wavelength converter includes an input active section, an output active section, an interferometer and an optical wavelength selector all integrated onto a substrate between two mirrors. An optical input signal at a first wavelength is input through the input active section which in conjunction with the output section and the interferometer controls the amplitude of an optical signal at a second wavelength propagating in the laser cavity. The information contained in the amplitude of the input signal is transferred to the optical signal in the interferomic laser cavity and output by the output active section. Thus, the information of the optical input signal at the first wavelength is transferred to the optical output signal at the second wavelength.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an optical wavelength converting apparatus for use with a light source providing a light beam having a wavelength xcex, the apparatus comprising:
(a) an optical wavelength conversion module including at least two optical modulators each capable of being coupled to the light source, and respectively capable of modulating the light beam to a first modulated light beam including a pair of channels having wavelengths xcexxc2x1xcex94xcexi, and a second modulated light beam including a pair of channels having wavelengths xcexxc2x1xcex94xcexj where xcex94xcexixe2x89xa0xcex94xcexj; and
(b) a wavelength controller for switching the light beam to one of said at least two optical modulators for modulating to one of said modulated light beams having a pair of channels with wavelengths xcexxc2x1xcex94xcexi or xcexxc2x1xcex94xcexj.
The optical wavelength converting apparatus of the present invention provides highly convenient wavelength conversion from a wavelength xcex to a modulated wavelength xcexxc2x1xcex94xcex. The optical modulators of the optical wavelength conversion module are preferably fine tuned by tunable radio frequency (RF) signal generators in accordance with performance monitoring requirements. The optical wavelength converting apparatus of the present invention is particularly suitable for deployment in optical routers for optical packet switching purposes in different networks including inter alia access networks, metropolitan ring networks, and long haul networks.